Don L. Gibbons, MD, PhD
Photo: Don L. Gibbons

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Elected 2020

Dr. Gibbons graduated from Harvard University (BA, cum laude, Biochemistry), and obtained his MD and PhD degrees from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Medical Scientist Training Program. He completed Internal Medicine Residency in the MeRIT Program at Baylor College of Medicine before joining MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2006 as a Clinical Medical Oncology Fellow and later as a Research Fellow, then Instructor. In 2010, he was appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, and promoted to Associate Professor in 2016. A physician-scientist specializing in lung cancer medical oncology, his laboratory investigates the unique characteristics of the tumor microenvironment and mechanisms that drive metastasis, including how cancer cells orchestrate immune evasion. He was selected for the MD Anderson Physician Scientist Award (2012-2014), the R. Lee Clark Fellowship (2014-2016), the Young Physician-Scientist Award from ASCI (2014), and the Waun Ki Hong Excellence in Team Science Award (2017). He is the currently a Professor, Deputy Chair and Director of the Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology Translational Genetic Models Laboratory and a Co-Leader of the Lung Cancer Moon Shot Program at MD Anderson Cancer Center. His translational research focuses on understanding the determinants of sensitivity and resistance to immune checkpoint blockade therapies and has driven the development of new clinical trials, particularly in the use of combinations that incorporate immunotherapy in both early-stage and metastatic lung cancer.